Florida Dental Care Study on Children

Florida Dental Care Study: According to the latest Pew Research dental Study, Florida Children are least likely to get Dental Care. A whopping 75% of Florida children on medicaid did not see a dentist in 2011. See this alrming video and transcript below.

News Reporter: Florida is last in a new study looking at children’s health. Specifically oral care. They found more than 14 million low income American kids did not have a dental visit in 2011. Wesh2’s Marina Maracco tells us what this means for Florida.

Marina Maracco: Limited access to dental care, especially for low income children and families in the US has reach alarming rates. A study today made by the Pew Research Center says that more than 800,000 American were treated in emergency hospitals rooms fro preventable dental problems like toothaches. For many children with no health care, emergency rooms are their only option.

Dr Thad Morgan: A country with such high tech medicine and prides itself. You can’t even fix simple tooth decay.

Marina Maracco: The US Dept of Health and Human Services reported that just in Florida nearly 76% of children on Medicaid never saw a Dentist in 2011 and the population under served in the state is ever growing.

Dr Thad Morgan: Six counties with no public health for dental and ten counties with no Dentist at all. That’s out of sixty. So one out of six counties in Florida doesn’t have a Dentist of any kind.

Marina Maracco: Oral hygiene is directly linked to good health and simple tooth brushing could go a long way in preventing any other maladies.

Dr Thad Morgan: If you don’t have front teeth, you can’t eat an apple. It’s just that simple. See, if your teeth are a wreck, what are you eating? And then your nutrition plummets and then that leads into everything. That’s the basic thing. It’s the number one problem.